Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Shaft in Africa

Here's a funky gem from the Shaft in Africa soundtrack, properly titled "Shaft In Africa (Addis)", conducted and composed by Johnny Pate. This movie and soundtrack came out in 1973 and unfortunately didn't receive the same kind of attention that the original Shaft movie got during it's initial run. However as time has gone on, the soundtrack has continued to be a nice find as the album features some other funky instrumental gems, as well as The Four Tops' standout track "Are You Man Enough". I originally picked this record up when I was visiting New York last year without knowing that much about the songs (outside of The Four Tops' track) featured on the soundtrack. That being said, the funky soundtrack has turned out to be a quite a find and, in my opinion, one of the better soundtracks from the blaxploitation era. Enjoy!

Johnny Pate - Shaft in Africa (Addis)


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1 comment:

professor Eddy said...

Great track! The percussion in it is so nice. The track reminds me a little bit of Love Unlimited Orchestra, although Johnny Pate made this one before the glory days of Barry White's orchestra. The Blaxploitation soundtracks were a big influence for disco later on.